Social marketing

Campaign: Kid Rescue

Client: Telefónica Foundation

WPP Company: Y&R Bogota

In Colombia 1.6 million children do not attend school regularly and are forced to work instead. Y&R Bogota worked with the Telefónica Foundation, a charity run by the global mobile network provider, to create a smartphone app which lets people report child labour. By uploading the child’s location and a photo to the Foundation’s website, members of the public help create a real-time data system exclusively accessible to social workers who examine every case and if necessary take action.

The app went viral just a few days after its launch and has helped to identify 1,276 children, 67 of whom are now off the streets, with their schooling sponsored by the Telefónica Foundation. The campaign won a Silver and a Bronze Cannes Lion.